Last update - 00:00 17/12/2007
Human Rights Watch urges U.S., EU to condition Jordan funding
By Associated Press
An international human rights watchdog called on the United States
and the European Union on Monday to hold back funding to Jordan unless the country reforms laws restricting freedom of assembly and association.
Human Rights Watch said both donors have promised to assist Jordan in developing its democratic institutions and strengthening civil society but have provided funding without demanding necessary reforms.
"It's a futile exercise of misplaced philanthropy for the U.S. and EU to be rewarding Jordan for continuing to restrict the activities of civil society groups," HRW Mideast Director Sarah Leah Whitson said in a press statement. "The U.S. and EU should withhold funds to the government until the unnecessary restrictions are lifted."
Whitson's statement coincided with the launch of a new HRW report on Jordan titled Shutting Out the Critics. The rights group said the U.S. and EU provided more than $600 million in assistance to the country in 2006.
Yet neither has developed the appropriate funding mechanisms, such as funding conditions, to ensure that Jordan's laws and practices comply with international standards on the rights to freedom of assembly and of association, said the report.
HRW's Jordan researcher Christoph Wilcke said on Monday that foreign donors were taking the call seriously.
"The Europeans are very much behind what we think should be a new law, a better law," Wilcke said on the sidelines of a press conference in Amman launching the report.
"The Americans recognize some faults but are a little bit more cautious in their assessment," he added.
The rights watchdog urged Jordan to reform restrictive laws that it said sharply reduce the freedom of individuals and organizations to meet, organize and demonstrate in public. HRW said the measures violated Jordan's constitution and international rights conventions signed by the country.
"The government is using oppressive laws and practices to shut out private citizens from peacefully participating in public policy debates," said Whitson.
Wilcke said he had met with officials from several Jordanian ministries about lifting the restrictions but so far had not seen tangible results.
Jordanian officials were unavailable for comment.
The report said Jordan has enforced a law since 2001 requiring groups as small as two people to seek permission to meet from local governors, who can deny the requests without appeal. HRW said governors have denied most requests for demonstrations on issues ranging from U.S. actions in Iraq to local fuel price hikes.
The rights group also criticized a law proposed in October that would bar domestic and foreign donations to non-governmental organizations in Jordan without prior government approval, calling the measure unnecessary and excessive.